Page 629 - Probability and Statistical Inference

606 14. Appendix

Lehmann’s contributions, particularly on sufficiency, minimal sufficiency,
completeness, unbiased tests, nonparametric inference, have been far reach-
-
ing. The papers of Lehmann and Scheffé (1950, 1955, 1956, Sankhya;) on
completeness, similar regions and unbiased estimation have profoundly influ-
enced the research and the understanding of statistical inference.
He was Editor of the Annals of Mathematical Statistics during 1953-1955.
He received many honors, including President (1961) of the Institute of Math-
ematical Statistics, the Guggenheim Fellowship awarded three times, and
elected (1978) member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences. In Febru-
ary 1985, Lehmann received a honorary doctorate degree from the University
of Leiden. Lehmann stays active in research and he frequently travels to con-
ferences.
P. C. Mahalanobis: Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, without whom the
Indian statistical movement would probably never have been initiated, was
born on June 29, 1893 in Calcutta. His parents’ family-friends and relatives
were in the forefront of the nineteenth century awakening in India. After
receiving B.Sc. (Honors, 1912) degree in Physics from the University of
Calcutta, Mahalanobis went for a casual visit to London in the summer of
1913. He was awarded senior scholarships from King’s College where he
studied physics. Upon his return to India, he joined as a lecturer of physics in
Presidency College, Calcutta in 1915. Mahalanobis was an eminent physicist
of his time.
Because of his analytical mind, he was often called upon by influential
family-friends to help analyze data for important government as well as uni-
versity related projects and reports. Mahalanobis started reading some of the
old issues of Biometrika, the copies of which he happened to bring along
from his trip to Cambridge.
Within the Physics Department in Presidency College, Mahalanobis initiated
a Statistical Laboratory in the late 1920’s. This Statistical Laboratory eventually
grew up to be the famed Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) on April 28, 1932.
Mahalanobis’s energy and vision led to a phenomenal growth of a newly created
discipline in India. Other brilliant individuals joined hands with him including,
not in any particular order, S. N. Roy, R. C. Bose, S. S. Bose, C. R. Rao, K.
Kishen, K. R. Nair, D. B. Lahiri, G. Kallianpur, D. Basu, R. R. Bahadur, S. R. S.
Varadhan, S. K. Mitra, G. P. Patil, J. Sethuraman and R. G. Laha.
-
In 1933, Sankhya;: The Indian Journal of Statistics was started with
Mahalanobis as its Editor. He continued to edit the journal until his death.
Due to his initiative and involvement, ISI played a key role in formulating
India’s second five-year economic plan after independence. The large-scale
surveys were initiated and the National Sample Survey Organization was